| An Empirical Study Of The Mediating Mechanisms of Knowledge Contribution | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 5 | |
| Sharon Swee-Lin Tan; Xiao Zou | |||
| Knowledge contribution is critical to the success of Knowledge Management
(KM) initiatives. While extensive research has been done to understand how
different individual and organizational factors affect knowledge contribution
behavior, few have studied the mediating mechanisms affecting the contribution
act. This study develops and empirically validates a model of how people
contribute their knowledge in the distributed team environment. Particularly,
we explore two mediating mechanisms of awareness and effort required in
searching and matching. Our results indicate that the mediating mechanisms
model provides a better specification of the antecedents of contribution
behavior. Our findings and implications are discussed in the paper. Keywords: contribution behavior, distributed teams, knowledge management, Wiki Note: Best paper award | |||
| An Exploratory Field Experiment on Actual Usage of Discount Coupons | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 9 | |
| Anar Gasimov; Juliana Sutanto; CheeWei Phang; Chuan-Hoo Tan | |||
| In this study, we seek to answer the question of whether sending the product
discount coupons through the mobile technology as opposed to another more
traditional communication technology i.e., e-mail, will yield different effect
on consumer behavior? Through a real-world field experiment spanning four
weeks, we observed that there is no significant difference in terms of coupons'
usage rate between the two technological means through which the coupons were
disseminated, i.e., mobile phone in the form of short-message-service (SMS);
and e-mail technology as e-mail message. However, we discovered that the
discount coupons' forwarding rate is significantly higher via e-mail as
compared to SMS. Furthermore, the results provide indication that the
propensity of using coupons received from a peer is higher as compared to
coupons received from a merchant. Keywords: Mobile commerce, product discount coupons, e-mail, SMS | |||
| Toward E-Commerce Website Evaluation and Use: Qualitative and Quantitative Understandings | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 12 | |
| Na Li; Ping Zhang | |||
| Users' affective evaluation of websites upon mere exposure hasn't been
studied extensively despite its essential influence on attitude and use
decision. Based on psychological and information systems (IS) literature, this
paper investigates three affect-related concepts and their effects: affective
cues, perception of positive affective quality (PPAQ), and perception of
negative affective quality (PNAQ). We propose a causal model to describe how
affective cues of an e-commerce website induce PPAQ and PNAQ, which in turn
impact user attitude toward using this website and intention to use it. The
model is tested in two studies, face-to-face interviews and an online survey.
This paper adds value to the literature by providing both qualitative and
quantitative understandings of the antecedents and impacts of exposure-based
affective evaluations in hedonic and utilitarian use of e-commerce websites. Keywords: E-commerce website evaluation, affective cues, perception of positive
affective quality (PPAQ), perception of negative affective quality (PNAQ),
attitude toward behavior, behavioral intention | |||
| Information Quality and System Quality in Online Communities: an Empirical Investigation | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 8 | |
| YiMing Zheng; Kexin Zhao; Antonis Stylianou | |||
| As the number of online communities (OCs) continues to increase, it is
critical for an OC to satisfy users' needs in order to encourage and retain
their voluntary participation and contribution over time. Consistent with the
IS Success model, we argue that information quality and system quality are two
important antecedents of OC user satisfaction. However, little IS research has
systematically examined quality issues and their impacts in the OC context. To
bridge the gap, we empirically investigate the impacts of information quality
and system quality on user satisfaction in one of the largest travel OCs. Based
on the IS quality literature, we develop a measurement model by incorporating
different dimensions of information quality and system quality. Given the
uniqueness of OCs, this study enriches our understanding of why and how
information and system quality matter in an OC. It also provides insights for
OC design and management. Keywords: Online communities, information quality, system quality, user satisfaction | |||
| 3-D Virtual Worlds: Education and Learning | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 13 | |
| Xiaofeng Chen; Keng Siau; Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah | |||
| 3-D virtual worlds are increasing in popularity as a medium for higher
education. In this research, we assess the efficacy of two instruction
strategies in a virtual world environment, Second Life, and their effects on
interactivity, social presence, and perceived learning. The two instruction
strategies are direct and interactive instruction strategies. Our findings
suggest that the interactive instruction strategy is more effective than the
direct instruction strategy in increasing perceived learning, social presence,
and classroom interactivity in the virtual world environment. The study also
captured data on perceived ease of use and usefulness of the virtual world
environment for education. The results show that the virtual world environment
is perceived by students to be easy to use for both direct and interactive
sessions. Students perceived the virtual world environment to be more useful
for the interactive session than for the direct instruction session. Keywords: 3-D virtual worlds, Second Life, instruction strategies, perceived learning,
social presence, classroom interactivity, perceived ease of use, perceived
usefulness | |||
| Switching Costs and Loyalty: Understanding How Trust Moderates Online Consumers' Ties to Merchants | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 2 | |
| Michelle Carter; Richard Klein; Jason B. Thatcher; Ryan Wright | |||
| Information technology has transformed how travelers interact with travel
service providers. Due to fierce competition in the online air travel industry,
e-ticketing services have focused attention on fostering customer loyalty. This
is an important strategy because, in general, initial transactions with new
customers are less profitable than transactions with existing customers.
Drawing on research on customer loyalty, switching costs, and trust, this study
develops, and proposes an empirical test, for a model incorporating trust as a
moderator of the relationship between switching costs and online customer
loyalty. We propose that in the presence of high customer trust, e-businesses
should have less need to rely on switching costs as a driver of customer
loyalty. If supported, this proposition will extend understanding of customer
loyalty, switching costs, and trust in e-commerce environments and provide
practical, theory-driven, guidelines to e-businesses seeking to develop
customer loyalty programs. Keywords: Customer loyalty, trust, switching costs, e-commerce, e-business strategies | |||
| Relationship between the Quality of Individual Time Management and Temporal Structure Usage: Design Implications for Electronic Calendar Systems | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 10 | |
| Dezhi Wu | |||
| This research examines the time management strategies of individuals and
gathers information on the complex temporal structures they experience and
manage. Its focus is on understanding the relationship between the quality of
individual time management and an individual's understanding and use of
temporal structures involving electronic calendar systems. This work consists
of a survey study which examines the hypotheses developed from a review of
literature on the impact and role of time in people's work lives. A theoretical
research model is proposed and tested using partial least squares (PLS)
technique to examine the relationships between the key survey constructs. This
study demonstrates that the use and understanding of temporal structures is an
important component for good individual time management. Significant
relationships between the quality of individual time management and various
temporal structures were discovered and also indicate that temporal structures
could be a new design component for the electronic calendar systems. Keywords: Temporal structure, calendar, time management systems, electronic calendar
design | |||
| Automated and Participative Decision Support in Computer-aided Credibility Assessment | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 7 | |
| Matthew L. Jensen; Paul Benjamin Lowry; Jeffery Jenkins | |||
| History has shown that inaccurate assessments of credibility can result in
tremendous costs to businesses and society. This study uses Signal Detection
Theory (SDT) to improve the accuracy of credibility assessments through
combining automated and participatory decision support. Participatory decision
support is also proposed to encourage acceptance of the decision aid's
recommendation. A new hybrid decision aid is designed to perform automated
linguistic analysis and elicit and analyze perceptual cues (i.e., indirect
cues) from an observer. The results suggest that decision aids that collect
both linguistic and indirect cues perform better than decision aids that
collect only one type of cue. Users of systems that collect linguistic cues
experience improved credibility assessment accuracy; yet, users of systems that
collect both types of cues or only indirect cues do not experience higher
accuracy. However, collecting indirect cues increases the user's acceptance of
decision-aid recommendations. Keywords: Credibility Assessment, Signal Detection Theory, Linguistic Analysis,
Indirect Cues Elicitation, Decision Support Systems | |||
| Deception Detection, Task complexity, and Group Member Experience in Computer-Mediated Group Settings | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 3 | |
| Gabriel Giordano; Joey George | |||
| Due to globalization and the increased availability of online collaboration
tools, individuals are now likely to work together in settings where computers
are their primary mode of communication. However, because communication
characteristics are different in these settings, problems can arise, such as
deception. Deceptive individuals may be difficult to detect over computer-based
channels because many audio and visual cues to deception are filtered and
communication tendencies are different. This paper presents two experiments
where groups performed a collaborative task in a text-based, computer-mediated
setting with and without confederate deceivers. The results show that deceivers
were very successful in this setting, that groups performing a low complexity
task were better at detecting deception than were groups performing a high
complexity task, and that groups with members that had experience with each
other had higher task performance but did not have higher deception detection
accuracy than did inexperienced groups. Keywords: Deception, Task Complexity, Channel Expansion, Media Synchonicity | |||
| Modeling Hedonic Consumption Behaviors in Online Shopping | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 4 | |
| Eric T. K. Lim; Dianne Cyr | |||
| Increasingly, researchers have acknowledged that consumption activities
involve hedonic components. Hedonic consumption relates to affective consumer
behaviors in that it deals with the emotive and multi-sensory aspects of the
consumption experience. Because the online shopping environment is
characterized by the existence of an IT-enabled web interface that acts as the
focal point of contact between customers and vendors, its design should also
embed hedonic elements to create a holistic consumption experience. Drawing on
the Expectation Disconfirmation Theory (EDT), this study advances a model that
not only delineates hedonic consumer expectations into its constituent
dimensions for online shopping but also highlights how these expectations can
be best served through properties of aesthetic performance. The model is then
empirically verified via an online questionnaire administered to a sample of 84
student participants. Theoretical contributions and pragmatic implications to
be gleaned from our proposed model and its subsequent empirical validation are
discussed. Keywords: Expectation disconfirmation theory, hedonic expectations, aesthetic
properties | |||
| An Exploratory study of the Video Bloggers' Community | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 11 | |
| John Warmbrodt; Hong Sheng; Richard Hall; Jinwei Cao | |||
| Video blogs (or vlogs) are a form of blogs where each post is a video. This
study explores the community of video bloggers (or vloggers) by studying the
community's structure as well as the motivations and interactions of vloggers
in the community. A social network analysis of a list of personal vloggers
identifies the community's structure. Open-ended interviews with core vloggers
in the sample provide in-depth understanding on the motivations and
interactions of the vloggers. Overall, the results indicate that the vloggers'
community exhibits a core/periphery structure. Such community is formed based
upon shared interest and active interaction. In addition, the rich
communication provided in vlogs allows for a more personal and intimate
interaction, making vlogs a potentially powerful tool for business
applications. Keywords: video blog, vlog, virtual community, social network analysis, qualitative
analysis | |||
| Designing for User-Generated Contents: An Investigation of Product Tags and Lead User Exposure | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 6 | |
| Cheng Yi; Zhenhui Jiang; Izak Benbasat | |||
| Recent advances in the Internet have revolutionized the way people share
information and choose products. Various new applications allow users to become
an active part in developing content on the Web. This study specifically
investigates e-commerce product search websites which allow users to search and
evaluate products, share product opinions and interests, as well as communicate
with other community members. Despite the increasing number of researchers
studying diverse issues in this context, there still lacks a theoretical
understanding of how the use of user-generated contents on these websites can
actually influence people's decision making and social experience online. This
study thus focuses on two prevailing design features on websites based on
user-generated information -- product tags and lead user exposure. Results from
a laboratory experiment using a large-scale, real social-network-based product
search website are reported. Keywords: User-generated contents, product tags, lead user, information foraging,
perceived decision quality, sense of community | |||
| Perceptions of Avatars in 3D Virtual Worlds: Impact of Task and Gender Stereotypicality | | BIBA | Full-Text | 21 | |
| David DeWester; Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah; Sarah J. Gervais; Keng Siau | |||
| Virtual worlds are growing in importance and popularity in businesses. As the use of virtual worlds increases, it becomes increasingly important to understand the behavioral and perceptual issues in virtual worlds. Although gender stereotypes have been widely studied in the real world along with their effects on trust perceptions, very little such research has been conducted in virtual worlds. We propose a research model to study the interaction effects of gender stereotypicality of male and female avatars and gender typicality of tasks on trust perceptions. An experiment is proposed to examine the effects of gender stereotypes on trust perceptions in virtual worlds. Implications and expected contributions are also discussed. | |||
| A Preliminary Framework for Usability Analysis in Healthcare | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 20 | |
| Surendra Sarnikar; Maureen Murphy | |||
| We propose a usability analysis framework for healthcare information
technology to help identify potential errors and evaluate their impact on
medical processes. Keywords: Usability, Healthcare Information Systems, Medical Errors | |||
| Individual Users' Adoption of Smart Phone Services | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 19 | |
| Youngseek Kim; Ping Zhang | |||
| This study plans to investigate factors that influence individual users'
adoption of smart phone services. A research model is developed based on
Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Diffusion of Innovations Theory to
include utilitarian, emotional, personal and social factors. Drawing from
previous studies, we propose that there are direct and indirect influences
among personal innovativeness, social influence, perceived ease of use,
perceived enjoyment, perceived usefulness and eventually intention to adopt
smart phone services. The model will be empirically tested with a survey.
Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Keywords: Smart Phone Services, Technology Adoption, Technology Acceptance, TAM,
Diffusion of Innovations Theory | |||
| Conceptualizing Aesthetic Experiences of Embodied Interactions with ICTs | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 18 | |
| Min-Chun Ku; Ping Zhang | |||
| This study proposes a theoretical model to depict a holistic view of
aesthetic experiences of interactions with ICTs based on the embodiment
approach, including their components and their interaction process. Keywords: Aesthetics, Aesthetic Experiences, Embodiment | |||
| DSS Interaction: A Simulation Experiment | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 17 | |
| Lei Chen; Chang Lin | |||
| Web-based systems are increasingly being used for decision support
applications. However, few empirical studies examine the impact of web-based
decision support systems (DSS). This experimental research looks at the various
factors that impact decision-making in web-based DSS. Using a structural
equation modeling (SEM) approach, the analysis reveals that information quality
and system quality are the most important factors in developing an effective
information system. Keywords: Business games, Web-based systems, Decision Support Systems | |||
| Tracking Users' Viewing Pattern | | BIBA | Full-Text | 16 | |
| Soussan Djamasbi; Marisa Siegel; Tom Tullis; Rui Dai | |||
| Empirical evidence suggests that users often exhibit a viewing pattern that
favors the top and left sides of web pages (Nielsen, 2006). According to the
model of visual hierarchy, viewing pattern is guided by two distinct cognitive
processes: searching and scanning, both influenced by the attributes of the web
components (Faraday, 2000). When used effectively, these attributes create a
visual hierarchy that can guide users in viewing a page. In addition, a number
of studies show that web users often exhibit a viewing pattern that is shaped
like the letter "F" (Nielsen, 2006; Shrestha and Lenz, 2007). F-pattern is
common to text-based pages, but can be diminished for an image-heavy page and
can also be task-dependent (Shrestha and Lenz, 2007). Because images often
serve as entry points to web pages (Faraday, 2000), these findings suggest that
visual hierarchy manipulated by images may have an impact on users' pattern of
viewing.
This study investigates two factors that may affect the F shaped viewing pattern: 1) visual hierarchy, and 2) task. Two prototypes of a homepage from a financialsrf company were designed to be different in only one section, which was named "Expert Insights". The location of the section was below the fold of the page, a spot typically missed when users exhibit an F-shaped viewing pattern. One prototype was named Faces as its Expert Insights section included images of faces, while the other, the No Faces prototype, contained no images of faces. Because images tend to attract users' attention, their inclusion affects the visual hierarchy of the homepage (Faraday, 2000). Two tasks were designed in this study: browsing and searching. In the searching task, participants were asked questions such as "You want to know more about a fall in Brazil's stocks" and needed to retrieve information which lay in the Expert Insights section. 34 participants were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions in this two-task (browse or search) X two-prototype (Faces or No Faces prototype) design. Their viewing patterns and eye fixations were collected by the non-intrusive Tobii 1750 and analyzed using heat maps. Results of this study showed that 1) consistent with previous findings, the content above the fold received more fixations overall; 2) more fixations in the center of the page were shown in the browsing task, whereas long fixations on navigations and more scattered pattern were shown in the searching task; 3) Faces prototype received more fixations on the text in Expert Insights, but No Faces prototype showed fixations only on the titles. Compared with a previous study in F-pattern (Shrestha and Lenz, 2007), our homepage had a more complex visual hierarchy, which could guide users' attention to areas outside of the pattern found on less visually complex pages. This study also shows that visual complexity may affect the effect of task on viewing pattern, and that task has an effect on viewing a page with a more complex visual hierarchy. Images of the faces have served as effective entry points, helping users to retrieve the information with fewer fixations. In addition, including images of faces on a homepage can help guide users in viewing and retrieving information adjacent to those images, even when the images are located below the fold of the webpage. Last, creating visual appeal in central area may be of great importance in creating a favorable aesthetic experience. These results not only have theoretical importance, but also have practical value. | |||
| A Lexical Approach to Classifying Computer Games | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 15 | |
| Xiaowen Fang; Susy S. Chan; Chitra Nair | |||
| According to the Entertainment Software Association (2009), more than
two-thirds of all American households play computer games. This vast audience
is fueling the growth of the multi-billion dollar computer game industry and
bringing jobs to communities across the nation. The rising popularity and
proliferation of computer games call for systematic research on the design of
computer games and their impact on game players. Systematic research on
computer games inevitably requires an accurate description of the traits or
characteristics of games. However, the traits of computer games haven't been
well studied. Currently, computer games are often classified into genres by the
computer game industry. Existing computer game genres, such as action
adventure, simulation, single shooter, are designated by vendors and
publishers. These genres are often general, overlapping, and not indicative of
the complex traits of games and the hedonic information technologies. A few
published studies on game genres are primarily based on qualitative analysis
and are inconsistent with the views of different stakeholders -- game
developers, game players, and game reviewers (Myers, 1990). The absence of a
reliable game classification scheme could hinder research on hedonic
information technologies and their interaction with users.
The objective of this study is to systematically investigate the essential traits for computer games and empirically validate the classification scheme. We propose to use a lexical approach to identify basic computer game traits. We argue that these computer game traits can be used to establish a more reliable and consistent classification scheme than the current game genres. Results from this study will help researchers investigate characteristics and designs of different types of games for educational as well as hedonic purposes. The idea of using a lexical approach to obtain personality traits stems from the lexical hypothesis for personality research. The lexical hypothesis states that people will want to talk about personality traits that they view as having important consequences in their lives (Ashton, 2007). As a result, people will inevitably invent some words to describe those who exhibit high or low levels of these essential traits. Over long periods of time, words that describe important traits should become established in every language. In applying a lexical approach to personality research, a researcher first systematically searches the dictionary of the language to be examined in order to obtain a list of personality-descriptive adjectives. After establishing this list of adjectives, the researcher excludes terms that are rarely used. The resulting list is then administered to a large sample of participants who are asked to provide self-ratings on these adjectives, indicating the extent to which each adjective describes their own personalities. In our research project, we argue that computer game traits, like personality traits, can be characterized by a set of adjectives, and consistently rated by different game players and developers. Therefore, the lexical approach can be applied to studying computer game traits. To overcome the problems with current computer game genres, we propose a classification scheme for computer games. In this classification scheme, computer game traits are defined as differences among computer games consistently perceived by different game players at different times. These traits are independent of one another. They are reliable and specific, because they can be consistently observed by different players and at different times. We hypothesize that any given computer game can be described by a finite set of traits. When a group of computer game traits form a cluster, it is called a genre. Different genres may share same trait(s) but traits are distinctive and mutually exclusive. This bottom-up classification scheme will enable game developers, players, and researchers to more accurately define the characteristics of a computer game and categorize it more consistently. We propose a lexical approach for identifying and clustering game traits. The proposed research involves three phases: 1) creation of a list of game-descriptive adjectives, 2) online surveys to rate the adjectives, and 3) factor analyses to group the computer game traits. Keywords: genre, computer games, lexical approach, classification scheme, computer
game traits, hedonic information technology | |||
| Usage of Hedonic Web Instruments | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 14 | |
| Horst Treiblmaier | |||
| In the World Wide Web companies can design Web sites which appeal to both
utilitarian and hedonic customers. Other than traditional media, which require
a trade-off between informative and entertaining content, the Internet allows
for the combination of multimedia tools in order to produce a holistic online
experience. Companies therefore incorporate hedonic elements into their site in
order to improve its overall effectiveness and efficiency. In this exploratory
study we show the results of a longitudinal survey, in which we monitored the
usage of four different communication instruments (sweepstakes, online games,
wallpapers/screensavers, e-cards) on commercial websites. We differentiate
between sites offering high and low involvement products and use log-linear
models to visualize our results and to find the combinations of instruments
which turned out to be stable over time. Our results show that companies in
general have reduced the usage of hedonic instruments (e.g. e-cards) during the
period of investigation and that some combinations of hedonic instruments are
more frequently used than others. Keywords: Hedonism, Website, Involvement, Log-Linear Model, Mosaic-Plot | |||
| Affect and HCI: Past, Present, and Future | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 1 | |
| Eleanor T. Loiacono; Soussan Djamasbi; Ganesh Dabholkar | |||
| A person's affective state is a critical component of his/her experience and
must be considered in HCI research. In fact, one's feelings are a necessary
component of his/her rational thoughts and actions. Because, IS behavioral
models assume rational actors, including affect in such models result in a more
complete understanding of user behavior. Since so much HCI research is focused
on user behavior, it is important that affect be considered. This paper
identifies the extent to which affect has been included in prior HCI research
and to encourage its continued use given its significant impact on behavior. It
begins by defining the general meaning of affect. It then presents recent
advances in the affect literature and reviews affect work within HCI to date.
Besides revealing that affect is a variable of great interest in HCI, the paper
provides a theoretical and practical justification for including affect in HCI
future research. Keywords: affect, mood, review | |||